I’m constantly barraged with questions by older people about my musical tastes; because apparently, heavily tattooed people must listen to some off the wall stuff and they want all the dirty details. I explain that I listen to a lot of different stuff but punk rock predominantly. “Oh, like that Blink 182?” And of course my kneejerk reaction is to say “No, nothing like that”, but I can’t really because peoples interpretations of what punk is about is vastly different. It’s no longer the three chord styling’s of the Sex Pistols and Ramones anymore, it’s much more progressive and variably different from what another band might claim as punk; you can’t quite pin it down to one sound anymore…and I’ll drink to that. I just shrug my shoulders at them.
Lanterns are a prime example of not being able to pin down a punk rock sound. Personally, I think these guys have much more of a lighthearted indie sound, but with a slight punk aura about them. Are they more indie really? More punk? Is indie rock anything more than a dialed down punk rock sound? I don’t know or care and I don’t think Lanterns do either. They play a toned down straightforward brand of rock with a penchant for experimental melodies that pop. We’ll skip all the stereotypical, ‘the guitars sound like this and the drums do this’ nonsense. This is a rock record; not a great one but a pretty damn good one.
I could easily see Apocalypse Youth getting compared to a band like Jets to Brazil or pretty much any band featured on 120 Minutes in the early nineties. This EP is filled with songs that are musically intrepid and energetic in a reserved way. I also think that, tonally, the vocalist sounds a bit like Morrissey on some songs. Lanterns create pop music for people who enjoy pop music but not necessarily from the mouths of bleached blonde skanks with fake tits. This is not something I would listen to that often, but Apocalypse Youth would go great with a quiet, winter evening at home and a bottle of Sake.
